Karur District

Karur District is located center along the Kaveri & Amaravathi rivers in Tamil Nadu India. The main town in Karur District is the city of Karur. It had a population of 935,686 as of 2001. It is 33.27% urbanized as per Census 2001. The district has a literacy of 81.74%.

As per the Vedas the Brahma created the human's first in this Karur known as Karuvur. Karur famous for its International Home-Textiles & Bus body buildings Karur has an online local news channel - Karurtoday.com.

The Pasupatheesvarar Temple sung by Thirugnana Sambhandar, in Karur was built by the Chola kings in the 7th centuryKarur is one of the oldest towns in Tamil Nadu and has played a very significant role in the history and culture of the Tamils. Its history dates back over 2000 years, and has been a flourishing trading centre even in the early Sangam days. It was ruled by the Cheras, Gangas, Cholas, the Vijayanagara Nayaks, Mysore and the British successively. Epigraphical, numismatic, archaeological and literary evidence have proved beyond doubt that Karur was the capital of early Chera kings of Sangam age. And Kongunadu is only the Chera Kingdom that extended up to the western coast till Muziri in Kerala, South India when the empire was at its peak and which the Cheras made it as their main port city. The Chera Kings and Kongudesa Rajakkal were one and the same. In olden days it was called Karuvoor or Vanchi or Vanji during Sangam days. There has been a plethora of rare findings during the archaeological excavations undertaken in Karur. These include mat-designed pottery, bricks, mud-toys, Roman coins, Chera Coins, Pallava Coins, Roman Amphorae, Rasset coated ware, rare rings, etc.

Karur may have been the center for old jewellery-making and gem setting (with the gold imported mainly from Rome), as seen from various excavations. According to the Hindu mythology, Brahma began the work of creation here, which is referred to as the "place of the sacred cow."

Karur was built on the banks of River Amaravathi which was called Aanporunai during the Sangam days. The names of the early Chera kings who ruled from Karur, have been found in the rock inscriptions in Aru Nattar Malai close to Karur. The Tamil epic Silapathikaram mentions that the famous Chera King Senguttuvan ruled from Karur. In 150 AD Greek scholar Ptolemy mentioned Korevora (Karur) as a very famous inland trading center in Tamil Nadu. After the Sangam Cheras, Kongus (Gangas), a Chera related native clan ruled Karur. After them, their arch rivals Cholas conquered Karur and ruled it for next forty years. The Kongus (Gangas) again conquered Karur as vassals of Hoysalas. The Muslim looter Malik Kafur ended the Hoysalas and Vijayanagara empire absorbed Karur. Thereafter, Karur was a part of the Mysore state. The hanging of Tipu and defeat of Dheeran Chinnamalai broke up Kongu Nadu and Karur was absorbed into the Tiruchirapalli district by the British.

Karuvoor Thevar born in Karur, is one among the nine devotees who sung the divine Music Thiruvichaippa, which is the ninth Thirumurai. He is the single largest composer among the nine authors of Thiruvichaippa. He lived during the reign of the great Raja Raja Chola-I. In addition to the famous Siva Temple.,there is a Vishnu Temple at Thiruvithuvakkodu suburb of Karur, sung by famous Kulasekara Alwar, 7th century AD, who was the ruler of Kongu nadu. The same Temple is presumably mentioned in epic Silappadikaram as Adaha maadam Ranganathar whose blessings Cheran Senguttuvan sought before his north Indian expedition.[1]

Later the Nayakars followed by Tipu Sultan also ruled Karur. The British added Karur to their possessions after destroying the Karur Fort during their war against Tipu Sultan in 1783. There is a memorial at Rayanur near Karur for the warriors who lost their lives in the fight against the British in the Anglo-Mysore Wars. Thereafter Karur became part of British India and was first part of Coimbatore District and later Tiruchirappalli District.

Karur is also a part of Kongu Nadu. The history of Kongu nadu dates back to the 8th century. The name Kongunadu originated from the term "Kongu", meaning nectar or honey. Kongu came to be called as Kongu nadu with the growth of civilization. The ancient Kongunadu country was made up of various districts and taluks which are currently known as Palani, Dharapuram, Karur, Nammakkal, Thiruchengodu, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Satyamangalam, Nilgiris, Avinashi, Coimbatore, Pollachi and Udumalpet.

Economy

Agriculture

Utilization of land area in Karur district is up to 44.59%. 4.76% of the land area remains as other uncultivated land. 2.74% is forest area in Karur district. Black soil is the predominant soil type in this district accounting for 35.51% followed by laterite soil for 23.85%. The remaining 20.31% is sandy, coastal and alluvium soil. The main crops are paddy, banana, sugarcane, battle leaf, grams & pulses, tapioca, kora grass, groundnuts, oilseeds, tropical vegetables, garland flowers, and medicinal herbs.

On the international textile map, Karur has become synonymous with hand-loom made-ups first as Tirupur in the hosiery product. The weaving industry came to Karur from Kerala and has earned a reputation for its high quality hand-loom products today. Hand-loom Exports from Karur began on a modest scale with just 15 exporters in 1975 and today Karur has 1000s of exporters and the products are supplied to world leading chain stores like WalMart, Target, IKEA, Ahlens etc.

Paper

TNPL is promoted by the Government of Tamil Nadu with loan assistance from the World Bank. Today TNPL is the largest producer of bagasse based paper in the world and the 2nd largest paper producer in Asia. TNPL produces 230,000 tons of Printing & writing paper and consumes 1 million tones of bagasse every year.

Bus body building

Karur is a renowned center for bus building industries. This is a unique feature of Karur and almost 90% of south Indian private bus bodies are being built here. The total business is estimated to be around Rs.750 crore per Annam.

Cement

Karur is also home to Chettinad Cements. It has an installed production capacity of 600,000 tons per annum, with another 1.1 million tons expansion in the pipeline.

Sugar

EID Parry has a sugar factory in Pugalur, Karur. It has a capacity of 4000 TCD per year. It also has a 22 MW co-generation Power plant, with TNPL.